Q: Is Reincarnation Compatible With Islam?
Reincarnation (tanasukh) refers to the doctrine that after death the soul moves on to inhabit another body, then dies again and moves on to another body, until there is no longer any reason for it to do so. It is incompatible with Islam.
Belief in some form of reincarnation can be found in almost all societies, whether primitive or sophisticated.
Variations exist according to local and regional differences in faith and popular culture. In the most materialistic societies, whose formal culture denies spiritual life, it is almost fashionable in some circles to hold such pseudo-religious beliefs and claim-whether seriously or not-that the spirits of the dead wander about, sometimes assume physical form, and can influence the living until they settle into their new bodies.
One argument for this doctrine's antiquity is the "evidence" found in ancient literature, such as Ovid's (d. 18 CE) colorful extravagances in which "gods" take on human and animal forms, humans assume different shapes, and so on. But these tales do not constitute a doctrine. The doctrine proper has nothing to do with colorful changes of form, but with a belief that an individual soul must pass through every level of creation and every species of life-form, whether animate or inanimate, sentient or non-sentient.
If we reflect upon this, we soon realize that the doctrine is really a strange elaboration on the soul's immortality. In other words, its kernel is that the soul is immortal. That kernel is true; the rest is not. The doctrine also may have arisen from observing similarities in physical and other traits between parents and offspring.
Is it reasonable to obscure the logical biological phenomena of heredity and genetics with the illogical doctrine of reincarnation?
This doctrine is said to have emerged in the Nile basin and then spread to other people, such as to India and than back to Greece. There, the eloquence of the classical Greek philosophers rationalized it into a source of consolation and hope for people who, as we all do, longed for eternity. It entered Judaism by way of the Kabbalists, Christianity through Jewish thinkers, and Islam via the ideas of some Sufis-despite the efforts of Muslim theologians to refute it.
Apologists put forward some "evidence." For instance, the Kabbalists mention the transformation of Niobe (mentioned in the Old Testament) into a marble sculpture, and of Prophet Lot's wife into a statue of dust. Others have referred to a literal transformation of Jews into monkeys and pigs.
Another argument explains instinct and intelligence in animals, as well as the splendors of the plant kingdom, as the product of once-human intelligence and vitality. This idea debases humanity and shames its proponents. We all know that there is a program and predetermined destiny for plants and inanimate creation, but it is rather far-fetched to trace the harmony and order we see in those kingdoms to formerly human souls. For example, and in reality, plants have a certain plant-life: a direction of growth toward light and moisture.
How can this be construed to mean that its life is the result of a formerly human soul that somehow has worked its way down to a lower level of creation?
Despite efforts to corroborate this assertion, no one has ever received a message from a plant confirming that it contains a once-human soul. Nor have we heard any account from someone that he or she was once the soul of a plant or an animal. The media have publicized some accounts of people recollecting so-called past lives and even recounting specific incidents. However, in cases when such claims are not totally absurd, they can be explained as recollections of what has been seen or read and then, knowingly or otherwise, elaborated and transformed. In short, such accounts are no more than ordinary human fictions.
The fact that Niobe and Lot's wife were transformed into sculptures of marble or dust respectively, even if accepted literally, does not prove reincarnation. What we have here is only a physical transformation, not a soul's transmigration.
As for petrified bodies, that is not an arcane phenomenon. Many such corpses have been found, preserved by the absolute dryness of volcanic ashes. Pompeii was destroyed in 79 CE by Vesuvius' sudden volcanic eruption and remained buried for centuries. Recent excavations have revealed numerous Niobe-like petrified bodies. In these ruins, and in the petrified faces and bodies, so busy in their self-indulgent vices and so secure in their arrogance, we can, if we wish, read the signs of Divine wrath and punishment. Perhaps their way of life was solidified in ash and so preserved to warn future generations. To interpret this as evidence of reincarnation is untenable.
Belief in reincarnation in Egypt, India, and Greece developed out of a distorted version of a once-sound belief in the Hereafter and from a longing for the soul's immortality. Neither in Akhenaton's Egypt nor in Pythagoras' Greece did anyone know of such a distorted idea.
To Akhenaton (d. 1362 BC), when one's life ends in this world, a different one starts in heaven. As soon as one dies, the soul sets off on its journey to reach the "Greatest Court" in Heaven. It goes so high that it reaches the presence of Osiris, and hopes to give an account of itself in words like these:
"I have come to Your presence as I was free of sins. Throughout my life, I did everything I could that would make devout people pleased. I did not shed blood or steal. Neither did I make mischief or mean any. I did not commit adultery or fornication."
Those who can speak so join Osiris' congregation, while those who cannot, whose evil deeds outweigh their good, are hurled into hell and tortured by demons.
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